Council confirms over £1.6m of funding for cycleway and two new footpaths

Peterborough City Council has confirmed that it has received £1.6m in funding for three active travel schemes from the Combined Authority.

- Fengate will see over £500,000 towards a new footpath on Newark Road and pedestrian improvements on Eastfield Road/Oxney Road.

- Over £500,000 will be spent on a new footpath on Malborne Way as well as on upgrading the Shrewsbury Avenue cycleway.

- A new Thorpe Wood cycleway has received a further £625,000 after a successful application to the Department for Transport. The cycleway will connect the replacement footbridge - currently being progressed by the A1260 Junction 15 project - with existing cycleways off Thorpe Wood Road, and into the Anglian Water Offices.

The schemes have been designed to make it easier for residents to walk, cycle and become much more active as they sustainably travel about the city.

Dates for the works have yet to be confirmed although around £220k is expected to be spent in 2022/23 financial year and the rest in 2023/24 financial year.

In addition, a further £10,000 will go towards the ‘school streets’ project, which was adopted by many schools in the city after a successful rollout during the pandemic.

The project aims to encourage pupils and parents to ditch the car and cycle or walk to school instead. There are currently 11 school streets operating in Peterborough with two additional schemes starting in November.

Councillor Marco Cereste, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Planning, Housing and Transport said: “We’re incredibly happy to have been awarded this amount of funding from the Combined Authority. In Peterborough, we have some brilliant cycle routes which enable residents to sustainably travel across the city.

"I’m positive it will make a big difference to pedestrians and cyclists, and I hope will encourage more residents to consider sustainable travel.”